The Wedge

The Wedge was revealed during American Ninja Warrior 8's "Crashing the Course" series as the obstacle featured in Los Angeles course

The Wedge is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the eighth obstacle in Los Angeles finals on American Ninja Warrior 8. It is known for being one of the toughest city finals obstacle in American Ninja Warrior history.

Competitors must hop a bar across a wedge-shaped gap, somewhat similar to the Flying Bar, then make the dismount the same distance as the gap. However, the dismount is made harder, by the fact the bar would roll as they swung, because it had a lacrosse ball on both ends of the bar.

Contents

Other Season Appearances

American Ninja Warrior 9

American Ninja Warrior 9's The Wedge in Denver

The Wedge returned on American Ninja Warrior 9, once again as the eighth obstacle during Denver finals. Similar to what happened during Los Angeles finals on the previous season, The Wedge once again became a ninja killer obstacle, as among the 16 competitors who attempted the obstacle, only 3 of them could complete it (Lorin Ball, Jesse Lucero, and Ian Dory).

Double Wedge

This iteration of The Wedge was 22 feet across and it worked similarly to its single-wall set counterpart, but competitors had to make a lache transition to the second wedge at the end of the first one.

The Wedge

Double Wedge

Trivia

The Wedge was the third hardest known city finals obstacle in American Ninja Warrior history by 2017, taking 18 out of the 20 competitors who've faced it, giving it a 90% knockout rate. While the Unstable Bridge in the semifinal of American Ninja Warrior 3 had the highest knockout rate, took 13 out of the 14 competitors who've faced it, giving it a 92.85% knockout rate.

The first two competitors to get past The Wedge from their respective city finals (Jessie Graff during Los Angeles finals and Lorin Ball during Denver finals), both finished in second place among the other competitors. Coincidentally, this was the highest both of them have personally ranked in a city finals course to date.

During Denver finals, all 16 competitors who attempted this obstacle advanced to Las Vegas national finals (with Meagan Martin, who finished in 16th place, advanced through the top 2 among the female competitors).

The obstacle originally was going to have separate walls to make it feel more inspired by the Flying Bar. However, no tester could succeed in getting past that version, so it was scrapped.

The Wedge is named after a surfing spot of the same name in Newport Beach, California.

This obstacle is very similar to the Pipe Slider, with a dismount at the end of the obstacle to the landing platform. However, due to a larger gap to the landing platform, the dismount from The Wedge is far more difficult than from the Pipe Slider.

For the second straight season, the fifth obstacle of Stage Two is a modified obstacle from the city qualifiers/city finals course, as: